Chinese couple celebrates 10 years of fostering orphans with special needs

February 13, 2018

Former factory workers have helped to raise 18 youngsters, most of whom are now living with adoptive families
A couple in eastern China are gearing up for a special celebration this Lunar New Year, as it will be their 10th working as foster parents at an orphanage.Du Jianfeng and her husband Jiao Zhiping joined the facility in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, in May 2008 after losing their jobs as factory workers. In the years since, they have helped to raise 18 children, most of whom have gone on to join adoptive families both in China and overseas, news portal Longhoo.net reported on Monday.Aside from having to deal with the tragedy of losing their parents, many of the youngsters in Du and Jiao’s care have special needs. Two of their current five charges – aged from three to 14 – have Down’s Syndrome, while another is on the autism spectrum, the report said.Chinese parents reunited with university dropout son who spent 10 years collecting trashDu was quoted as saying that although caring for children with special needs was not always easy, the past 10 years had been very rewarding.“There were difficult times when I thought I couldn’t pull through,” she said. “We didn’t know how to do things properly at the beginning, and many things didn’t go smoothly. But we had training every week and in time we learned how to take care of the children.” Speaking of one her current charges – a nine-year-old boy who is on the autistic spectrum – Du said he had made enormous progress since joining their family.